This new video from Mean Jeans, which finds the band blasting green space aliens and drinking Jägermeister—one gets the distinct impression that most of the set props come from the band's personal collection—is pretty amazing, though it threatens to distract from just how awesome this song is. But then, the band's ultra-specific party aesthetic is always going to be a little love or hate for ...
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So, I always feel a kinship with referees. I was reminded of this a few minutes ago, when one offered a friendly but distant half-hug to Raymond Felton. I know that feeling. I write about music for a living. And you can get close to a band—physically close, until your ears bleed—but you're rarely close to a band. And, of course, if you get too close you've got to stop writing about them. I can...
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Music Stories
It wasn’t headline news when Swervedriver quietly broke
up in 1998. The British quartet, often lumped into the “shoegaze” genre
but more muscular and freewheeling than most of its contempora
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Cool Nightmare (Tender Loving Empire)

Album Reviews
[FUTURE POP] I don’t think the members of Radiation City
are perfectionists, but together they make some perfect pop music. The
Portland quintet’s live shows sound like elaborately produced st
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I often say, without thinking about it too much, that John K Samson is the greatest living songwriter. I really should say he's "my favorite" instead of getting all high and mighty about it, but I suppose that in pushing the issue, I hope to get people to pay attention to his words and the truth that seems inherent in his storytelling. His songs—with the Weakerthans or on his own—always offer ...
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John K. Samson is a genius songwriter. He might quit.

Music Stories
In his 15-year career as frontman for the Weakerthans and
as a solo artist, John K. Samson has written dozens of increasingly
masterful story songs from the perspectives of bed-ridden hospital
p
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Hello, Portland. It's me, Casey. I'll be here all week, keeping track of the newly shuffled Blazers, who are 3-and-3 in the post-Nate era. Neither tanking nor embarking on an inspired comeback run, the Blazers are, as they have been for most of the season, stuck in the middle like Jimmy Eat World. The lower middle. Tonight they hope for a small miracle against the Oklahoma City Thunder, whom they...
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So, the Golden State Warriors generally cream the Blazers. This time, I'd say all bets are off. Both teams' lineups look a lot different than they did a couple of weeks ago, due to both injury and trades. There are at least two Warriors on the floor tonight who I'm just gonna have to look up. And I have watched like a dozen Warriors games this year.FIRST QUARTER!10:20
Golden State ...
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Festival season being nearly upon us, we thought we'd talk to one of the folks who makes them happen. The Soul'd Out fest, now in its third year, seems the least likely of all Portland's music festivals. It is focused primarily on black music in a city often lampooned for its whiteness, and—despite highbrow offerings from folks like Portland-raised Esperanza Spalding and jazz legend Dr. Lonnie S...
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